Happy New Year! Thoughts and Wishes!

Happy New Year from Poppets & Posies!

Ingrid and Astrid are posing in their new stunning outfits from Elite Doll World for evening time celebrations.

The rest of us are waiting out the clock for the exciting GOTY 2018 launch of Luciana. While we wait we are watching broadcasts of brrrrrrrr-freezing cold weather reports, eating cookies, and organizing our new poppet clothing and accessories which are overflowing in my home office area. Overall, a good problem to have!

We are also grateful for our newest poppet--a boy poppet!

He fits in like he has been here for years.

Astrid poses with our newest family member!

Wishing everyone a comfy and cozy evening and a new year of friendship, love, and wonderful surprises!

Spring Things! Mermaid Mix & Match

American Girl has a new mermaid-themed Mix & Match offering in pastels for the spring. A quick peek from my time at AGPSF today.

Pastels, sequins, ruffles, mesh, mermaids and fish.

The New Boys on the Block

With little to no fanfare four new boy dolls quietly debuted at AG stores the day after Christmas.

Those lucky enough to hit a store after Christmas Day were able to meet and greet TM 74, TM 75, TM 76 and TM 77! But you have to go to the store since they will not be offered for online purchasing until January 1st.

The boy dolls each feature subtle changes to their respective face molds--each face mold was given a closed mouth smile, heavier eyebrows, and a slight change to the jaw line.

Some of the boy-centric (though easily worn by any gender) options include a blue "shark" themed baseball cap, blue sunglasses, a "Dino-mite" outfit of a green layered tee, cargo shorts and funky sneakers. One can also purchase an accessory set with a red jacket and lime green backpack and there is a new blue chameleon pet available as well!

The boy doll boxes are the same TrulyMe branded purple boxes as used with the other currently sold TM dolls.

A quick peek at those adorable sneakers. I suspect they are completely plastic, including uppers, but I will need to get my hands on them to be certain.

So, I have been contemplating a new boy purchase since I got a gander of the leaked images a few months ago. No surprise to me that I left the store today with a big red American Girl shopping bag.

Can you guess who?

Got to love that Palo Alto winter sunshine and blooms!

Yay! TM 74!

A new year and a new boy poppet! Will a new boy be joining your crew?

Luciana Live!

Wow! Luciana is showing up early in some venues. A lucky @agberkie is perhaps the very first to bring her home! Photos shared with permission.

First close up of attached purple hair streak in Luciana's wig.

Her meet dress belt-purse is removable.

Note Luciana's Accessories (silver backpack) and first indication the blue Flight Suit is not bundled with a big ticket item (yay!).

Luciana in the Wild!

Luciana!

Luciana appears to have medium tone vinyl skin, dark brown pinwheel eyes.

Her in-box accessories include the silver reflective collar necklace and a red heart charm on a string necklace.

Very happy to see a return to the lift-top doll box!

Check out All About Luciana page for more images and photos.

Luciana & Pantone Color of the Year 2018

I always enjoy looking at the intersection between Pantone's Color of the Year and American Girl's own Girl of the Year.

Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet.

Remind you of anything?

Yes, Luciana's purple hair streak!

Allure Magazine calls it a "vivid-yet-not-quite-neon purple hue" and notes that it may convince even more people to try out purple hair this year. Check out the Allure link for more images of this shiny hue as found in hair and makeup products.

Far Out: Luciana Shoes?

Could these "galaxy" print shoes be for Luciana?

Thank you to American Girl Doll News for first sighting these sneakers--and her speculation that they might be for Luciana.

Luciana's Shoes?

The "galaxy" print is similar to Luciana's meet dress. Additionally, they look like probable candidates for her Space Camp Outfit with the Green Flight jacket combo image--the basic shape and hint of color hue are the same. But until we see more images to confirm these are Luciana's, they also could be a rejected prototype or belong to a different Truly Me outfit.

I love the print and color of the shoes. However, I am not a fan of the rough and unfinished canvas but canvas uppers are still a step above all molded plastic shoes as with the new TrulyMe meet outfit.

I am also disappointed by the lack of metal eyelets and cheap elastic instead of laces for the shoes. This cheap sneaker design has been a trend in AG canvas sneakers for a few years now and as recently in one of Z Yang's outfits. Remember some of the ornate and ultra-realistic sneakers of AG-yesteryear with faux suede uppers, metal eyelets, laces, and complex molded soles?

STEM and GOTY 2018 Luciana

American Girl Publishing has posted images of a new activity book full of out-of-this-world STEM themed crafts!

 Check out GOTY 2018 Luciana with a featured craft project--a space suit!

Make your own telescope for Luciana to study the skies! AND a Nasa branded tee--will this be a future Luciana tee?

Build a lunarscape or create your own space suit for Luciana!

 More STEM craft ideas! Lab equipment, petri dishes, and more!

Check out the link at the top of the navigation All About Luciana for more images and a summary of her upcoming collection.

Holiday 2017: Shimmering Ballroom Gown

This year's limited holiday gown, coming soon. If you love Belle from Beauty and the Beast, here you go!

Not a fan of the purse, too similar from a holiday dress from 2015.

Are you a fan?

Luciana Space Themed Dress

Just over two months until Luciana!

Love Luciana's space themed dress! Yes, I plan to be there on debut day!

I predicted early summer that Luciana will have a space suit with a "bubble helmet" and I am sticking with my prediction--though no leaked images of it yet.

Luciana the poppet has been spotted on social media and some of her outfits and accessories have been leaking for months now. See more Luciana images of the doll and outfits as they develop on the All About Luciana page.

FAQ: Foreign "Franken-dolls" and Factory Seconds

Some basic and incomplete thoughts on those not-quite-perfect dolls found for sale on foreign secondary market sites like Taobao.

Q: What is a Franken-doll?

A Franken-doll is a playful term for a doll that has been constructed from parts of several other dolls. Like Frankenstein's Monster, but hopefully a lot cuter.

Q: What is a Foreign Franken-doll?

A doll made of different parts found for sale on a foreign secondary market like Taobao. A foreign reseller constructs a Franken-doll from whatever parts available and sells it.

Q:  What are Factory Seconds? What does it have to do with Franken-dolls?

When dolls don't meet factory standards or are damaged, the discarded parts or even whole dolls sometime end up in the hands of a foreign reseller instead of a dumpster. These are "factory seconds" or rejects.

Franken-dolls are sometimes a mash-up of two or more factory seconds parts.

Q: What are those numbers and letters written with marker on the foreheads of some Franken-dolls and other (usually nude) dolls for sale on Taobao?

I am not certain--it seems to be an accounting system like a doll or parts number. It might be the doll was used and marked as factory display or could just be a code for rejection. I would love more insight on this!

Q: I saw a "Tenney" doll on Taobao (or a "Luciana" doll, etc) and the wig or the eyebrows or the hands (or whatever) is clearly wrong. How can that possibly  be a Tenney doll?

It is probably a rejected Tenney head put on a spare body. Or a rejected Luciana head put on a spare body. Remember, these are Franken-dolls--pieces are thrown together to make a sale of a "whole" doll. Whole dolls will sell better than random pieces of a doll.

Tenney head but not a Tenney body (wrong hand style)

Q: Why are most Franken-dolls and Factory Seconds dolls sold nude?

It is probable the foreign reseller only has access to rejected dolls or doll parts from the factory and is just hoping to make an easy profit from "free" parts.